Dr. Carol L Walker

Dr. Carol L. Walker died peacefully at home in Las Cruces, NM on February 25, 2026, at the age of 90, surrounded by her family. Carol is survived by her children Diana Landry and partner Shane Bender, David Walker, Dan Walker, Elaine Walker and her husband Bruce Olberding; grandchildren Chanel Landry, Michelle Walker, and Alice Walker; one sister Lynn Wallace; and one brother Darel Hardy. She was preceded in death by her parents Alice Elisabeth and Fred Waldo Hardy, her husband Elbert Walker, and David's husband, Walter Carr-Walker. 

Carol was born on August 19, 1935, in Martinez, California and was raised on a farm in Montrose, Colorado. She graduated as valedictorian of Montrose County High School and was awarded a Regents Scholarship to the University of Colorado Boulder. 

Widowed at the age of 21 by the loss of her first husband, Richard Roth Peercy, a musician in the U.S. Army, she carried that early grief with quiet strength and resilience. After completing a bachelor’s degree in Music Education in 1957 at University of Colorado Boulder, she returned to her early interest in mathematics, teaching herself advanced abstract algebra and calculus, and soon pursuing graduate study first at University of Denver for one year and then at New Mexico State University on a National Defense Act Fellowship. She earned a Master’s in Mathematics in 1961, followed quickly by a Ph.D. in Mathematics in 1963, becoming the first woman to receive a Ph.D. from the university. 

Upon graduation, she was awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship, spent a year as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and then joined the Mathematics faculty of New Mexico State University in 1964. 

During these early years at NMSU, Dr. Walker met her husband of 55 years, Elbert Walker, a fellow faculty member in the mathematics department with whom she was to have both a productive life and career, raising four kids, writing numerous research articles and a wide range of books, all the while serving as the social and intellectual center of a thriving, growing mathematics department that gained a national and international reputation. Dr. Walker was a respected scholar in Abelian group theory, lattice theory, and later in the mathematics of fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic, publishing her first mathematics paper in 1962 and her last, 58 years later, in 2020. 

A faculty member at NMSU for more than three decades, she earned the rank of Professor of Mathematics in 1972 and served as Department Head of Mathematical Sciences from 1979 to 1993, and later as Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences. She also served as Acting Assistant Dean and Acting Dean of the Graduate School. Dr. Walker was deeply committed to her students and to service in the university and professional community. Her legacy at NMSU includes generations of mathematicians and a department that grew substantially under her leadership. 

Music also remained an enduring part of her life. She played viola with the University of Denver orchestra and for many years performed with the NMSU orchestra and served as pianist for the University Singers. 

Dr. Walker was well cared for at the Aristocrat assisted living facility in the past few years.

After a full and remarkable life, Carol leaves behind many family members, friends and colleagues who were touched by her kindness, generosity, leadership and intellect. 

A ceremony is planned for May 3, 2026 at 3pm in the Carol and Elbert Walker Room, room 107 of Science Hall on the NMSU campus.

In lieu of flowers, you may send donations to the Walker Endowed Mathematics Research Grant at NMSU (math@nmsu.edu), or to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.